A woman who fly-tipped cardboard boxes outside Tesco was fined £580.

Maria Dias, 61, was fined £580 in a recent case in Andover, Hampshire, for fly-tipping cardboard boxes outside a Tesco supermarket. Last summer, when her bins were not picked up, Dias claimed she was “recycling” and left the trash next to a “do not dump” sign at the parking lot recycling area.

After tracing the boxes back to Dias, an officer with the Test Valley Borough Council brought charges against her. Even though Dias admitted to fly-tipping, she was shocked by the punishment, which will be taken out of her benefits and entail a £200 fine, an £80 victim surcharge, and £300 in court costs.

Dias said from her house that she didn’t know about the rules and thought she was recycling properly. She did own the mistake, though, and promised never to do it again.

Fly-tipping is prohibited, according to TVBC’s head of environmental services Paul Wykes, who also noted that the practice wastes precious resources. This case arises in the middle of reports that indicate there is little prosecution of litter louts; in 2022, just 0.2% of fly-tippers were successfully brought before the courts, despite the fact that unlawful dumping costs taxpayers a great deal of money.

Every year, over a million instances of unlawful waste dumping occur, costing cash-strapped authorities an estimated £392 million. Notwithstanding these obstacles, prosecution rates continue to be disproportionately low, raising questions about the efficacy of the enforcement strategies in place.